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Sebastian Telfair’s Deal In Italy Falls Through

September 1st, 2016 at 8:21am CST by Eddie Scarito

SEPTEMBER 1: Telfair’s deal with Auxilium Cus Torino has fallen through, with the team opting to sign former Georgetown point guard Chris Wright instead, per Orazio Cauchi of Sportando. As David Pick tweets, the team was willing to give Telfair an NBA opt-out until late January, but he also asked for a China opt-out, at which point the club balked.

AUGUST 29: Former NBA lottery pick Sebastian Telfair is headed overseas again, having agreed to sign a deal with the Italian team Auxilium Cus Torino, Orazio Cauchi of Sportando reports (on Twitter). The pact will pay Telfair in excess of $300K and includes an NBA out clause that he can exercise in late January, international journalist David Pick reports (Twitter link).

Telfair had also garnered interest from Pallacanestro Cantù and Cedevita Zagreb over the past few weeks, but Torino made the strongest push for him, Cauchi notes. He had worked out for both the Nets and the Spurs this offseason, though no NBA offer was made for his services, Pick also notes (Twitter link).

The point guard last appeared in the NBA during the 2014/15 campaign, playing in 16 games for the Thunder and averaging 8.4 PPG, 2.8 APG, and 1.9 RPG in 20.4 minutes per contest. The 30-year-old then caught on with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of China, appearing in 22 contests and notching averages of 19.9 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 4.5 assists in 28.2 minutes per game. He sat out last season.

Sixers Sign Cat Barber

August 31st, 2016 at 4:47pm CST by Luke Adams

AUGUST 31: The Sixers, having opened up a couple roster spots earlier this afternoon, officially signed Barber more than a month after agreeing to a deal with him, the team announced today in a press release.

JULY 21: The Sixers have agreed to terms with another undrafted rookie free agent, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical, who reports (via Twitter) that the team is signing former North Carolina State guard Cat Barber to a partially-guaranteed deal.

Barber left N.C. State after his junior year, and was viewed as the 55th-best prospect in this year’s draft class by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com. Per Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer, Barber’s agent told him he had a chance to be a first-round pick in June. However, the 21-year-old point guard went undrafted. Nearly a month later, he has secured an opportunity to attend a club’s training camp to compete for a roster spot.

In his final year at N.C. State, Barber averaged 23.5 PPG, 4.7 RPG, and 4.5 APG, with a shooting line of .453/.361/.865. After not being selected last month, he caught on with the Pelicans for Summer League play, but only played 11.8 minutes per contest in four games for New Orleans.

Terms of Barber’s contract with the Sixers aren’t known, but Philadelphia has plenty of cap space, meaning the team could sign him to a three- or four-year pact rather than locking him up for just for two years.

Celtics Waive John Holland

August 31st, 2016 at 4:32pm CST by Luke Adams

The Celtics have made a roster move today, announcing (via Twitter) that they’ve waived guard John Holland. Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link) first reported the move before the team made it official.

Holland, 27, signed a two-year deal with the Celtics right at the end of last season, appearing briefly in one playoff game for the team in April. He spent most of the 2015/16 campaign playing for the Canton Charge in the D-League, averaging 16.0 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 2.0 APG, and 1.2 SPG for the club, while shooting 52.0% from the field.

Holland was one of three players on the Celtics’ roster whose salary for 2016/17 was non-guaranteed, making him a long shot to earn a roster spot. It’s possible that Boston agreed to let him out of his contract early so he could explore overseas opportunities that would be more lucrative than another stint in the D-League. According to Orazio Cauchi of Sportando (via Twitter), Holland is already receiving interest in Europe.

After waiving Holland, the Celtics now have 18 players on their offseason roster, including 16 on fully guaranteed contracts.

Sixers Waive Carl Landry, Tibor Pleiss

August 31st, 2016 at 4:22pm CST by Luke Adams

The Sixers have created a couple open spots on their roster, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical, who reports (via Twitter) that the team has waived veteran big men Carl Landry and Tibor Pleiss. Both players will become free agents if and when they clear waivers.

A nine-year NBA veteran, Landry appeared in 36 games for the Sixers last season, averaging 9.8 PPG and 4.1 RPG while shooting 55.6% from the floor. He should draw interest from NBA teams in need of veteran frontcourt help. As for Pleiss, Philadelphia acquired the German big man last week in a salary-dump trade, and we heard yesterday that the team intended to part ways with him.

Landry had a salary of $6.5MM owed to him for the 2016/17 season, while Pleiss was set to make $3MM. Both figures were fully guaranteed, however, so the Sixers will still be on the hook for nearly $10MM in salary for the two players.

By waiving Landry and Pleiss in advance of today’s stretch provision deadline, Philadelphia will also have the option of stretching the two cap hits over the next three years. However, the Sixers currently sit well below the 2016/17 salary floor, so it would be a little surprising if the team added money to its cap in future seasons in order to reduce this year’s cap hits.

After waiving Landry and Pleiss, the Sixers will still have plenty of frontcourt depth on their roster, with young players like Nerlens Noel, Jahlil Okafor, Ben Simmons, Dario Saric, and Joel Embiid leading the way at the forward and center positions. The club will also reduce its roster count to 18 players, meaning there will be two open spots on the 20-man offseason roster. Only 11 of those 18 contracts currently on the books are fully guaranteed.

Cavaliers, Cory Jefferson Agree To Deal

August 31st, 2016 at 3:49pm CST by Luke Adams

Former Baylor power forward Cory Jefferson will join the Cavaliers for training camp, reports international basketball journalist David Pick (via Twitter). According to Pick, Jefferson and the Cavs have agreed to terms on a deal.

A second-round pick in 2014, Jefferson appeared in 50 games for the Nets in his rookie season, but played in just eight games for the Suns last season. The 25-year-old saw more playing time in 2015/16 for the Bakersfield Jam, Phoenix’s D-League affiliate, averaging 17.3 PPG and 9.8 RPG in 19 games with the club.

With Jefferson poised to join the team, the Cavaliers are also eyeing Eric Moreland as a potential training camp target, says Pick. Moreland, who played his college ball at Oregon State, has spent some time with the Kings during the last two seasons, but didn’t get a qualifying offer from Sacramento this summer, making him an unrestricted free agent.

Kings Sign Ty Lawson To One-Year Deal

August 31st, 2016 at 1:51pm CST by Luke Adams

AUGUST 31: The Kings have officially signed Lawson, the team announced today in a press release. According to a report from CSNCalifornia.com, the point guard’s one-year deal isn’t guaranteed, so the team won’t be on the hook for his full salary if he’s cut before January 10.

AUGUST 28: The Kings have reached an agreement with free agent point guard Ty Lawson, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (via Twitter). According to Wojnarowski, Sacramento is signing Lawson to a one-year contract for the coming season.

Lawson visited the Kings on Saturday and ultimately decided to sign with the team despite having also received “serious interest” from the Pelicans, tweets Wojnarowski. The 28-year-old has seen his career trajectory change significantly within the last couple years, after he was arrested multiple times on DUI charges and spent time in rehab.

A 2009 first-round pick, Lawson became the Nuggets’ full-time starting point guard during the 2011/12 season, and averaged 16.4 PPG to go along with 8.0 APG over the next four years. However, Denver sent him to the Rockets last July, and Houston subsequently waived him. Over the course of the 2015/16 season, Lawson appeared in 66 total regular-season games, averaging 5.7 PPG and 3.6 APG in part-time roles for the Rockets and the Pacers, who signed him late in the season.

The Kings had been on the lookout for point guard help this offseason, having lost Rajon Rondo in free agency. Rondo’s departure left Darren Collison as the team’s de facto starter at the point, but Collison is facing domestic violence charges, which could eventually lead to a suspension depending on how the case plays out.

While Sacramento added Garrett Temple in free agency and Isaiah Cousins in the draft, Temple is more of a combo guard than a pure point guard, and Cousins was a late second-rounder who has yet to sign a contract.

The terms of Lawson’s contract aren’t yet known. Sacramento doesn’t have any cap room left, but the team has yet to use its $2.898MM room exception. So the veteran point guard could either get a minimum-salary deal or something slightly larger, if the Kings dip into that room exception.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Nuggets Trade Joffrey Lauvergne To Thunder

August 30th, 2016 at 12:48pm CST by Luke Adams

12:48pm: The Thunder and Nuggets have each issued press releases confirming the deal.

12:25pm: The two draft picks heading to the Nuggets are 2017 second-rounders, according to Royce Young of ESPN.com (via Twitter). That means Denver will be receiving the Grizzlies’ pick and the Thunder’s pick.

12:01pm: The Nuggets and Thunder have agreed to terms on a trade, according to reports from Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post and Adrian Wojnarwoski of The Vertical. Per Dempsey and Wojnarowski, Denver has agreed to send Joffrey Lauvergne to Oklahoma City in exchange for two future second-round picks.

Lauvergne, who will turn 25 in a month, was a role player for the Nuggets last year, appearing in 59 contests and starting 15 of them. For the season, he averaged 17.6 MPG, chipping in 7.9 PPG, 4.9 RPG, and 0.9 APG for Denver, while shooting 51.3% from the floor and 89.9% from the free-throw line. Lauvergne also played for France in the Olympics this summer.

The Thunder figure to work Lauvergne into their frontcourt rotation off the bench, with Serge Ibaka and Nazr Mohammed no longer on the roster. Steven Adams, Enes Kanter, Domantas Sabonis, Nick Collison, Andre Roberson, and Ersan Ilyasova are among the other players who will look to earn minutes at the four or five this season in OKC, while Mitch McGary may not end up on the regular-season roster, as ESPN’s Royce Young tweets. The Thunder already had 15 guaranteed salaries on their cap for 2016/17 prior to Lauvergne’s arrival.

Meanwhile, with Lauvergne no longer in the mix in Denver, the Nuggets now have 14 guaranteed salaries on their books for ’16/17, plus JaKarr Sampson, D.J. Kennedy, and Axel Toupane on non-guaranteed contracts.

The Thunder have just enough room to fit Lauvergne’s salary in under their cap without waiving or trading any other players. Per Basketball Insiders’ data, Oklahoma City’s team salary for 2016/17 was at $92,403,967 before the trade. Lauvergne is on the books for $1,709,719 this season, while the league-wide salary cap is $94,143,000 — the Thunder should be able to complete the deal with about $30K in cap space to spare.

Lauvergne’s salary for this season is only half guaranteed so far, with $854,859 still non-guaranteed. However, the fact that the Thunder were willing to give up two draft picks for him suggests that the team doesn’t intend to waive him before guaranteeing the rest of that salary.

It’s not clear yet which picks the Nuggets will be receiving in the swap, but OKC had extra second-rounders in 2017 (from Memphis; protected from 31-35) and 2018 (from Boston; protected from 31-55).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Jason Thompson To Play In China

August 29th, 2016 at 10:15pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Unrestricted free agent big man Jason Thompson is headed overseas, having reached an agreement with Shandong of The Chinese Basketball Association, international journalist David Pick reports (on Twitter). The exact length and terms of the pact are unknown at this time.

With the majority of NBA teams having filled their preseason rosters, the odds were stacked against Thompson landing a spot to begin the NBA campaign. Heading over to China will allow him to earn a paycheck and still have the opportunity to catch on with an NBA team later in the season. The Chinese season concludes mid-February, but the playoffs can last until the beginning of March. Thompson would be free to pursue an NBA offer once his team’s playoff run ended, provided it qualifies for the postseason.

Thompson split time during the 2015/16 season between the Warriors and Raptors. In a combined 47 games the forward notched averages of 3.1 points, 2.9 rebounds and 0.6 assists in 10.0 minutes per outing. His shooting line on the year was .481/.333/.704.

Lakers To Sign Travis Wear

August 29th, 2016 at 6:08pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Lakers have reached an agreement with unrestricted free agent Travis Wear, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reports (via Twitter). The scribe refers to it as a training camp deal, so it’s likely a minimum salary pact that includes little or no guaranteed money.

Wear, a small forward, was out of the NBA last season after playing 61 games for the Knicks in 2014/15. He instead played overseas for the Spanish club RETAbet.es GBC, appearing in 26 games and averaging 7.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 0.7 steals in 20.5 minutes per outing. His shooting line was .448/.353/.737.

The 25-year-old has a total of 51 NBA contests under his belt, all with New York, and has career averages of 3.9 points, 2.1 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 13.2 minutes per night. His career NBA slash line is .402/.367/.769.

Lakers Sign Zach Auguste

August 29th, 2016 at 5:30pm CST by Arthur Hill

AUGUST 29th: The signing is official, the team announced.

AUGUST 21st: The Lakers have reached an agreement with former Notre Dame power forward Zach Auguste, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. Auguste played for the Lakers’ summer league team in Las Vegas, averaging 5.0 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. Terms of the deal were not available.

When Auguste signs, he will be the 16th player on the roster, and Pincus speculates that he could either be ticketed for the D-League or L.A. is planning to open a roster spot by getting rid of Nick Young (Twitter link).

The 6’10”, 240-pound Auguste was a double-double machine with the Irish, averaging 14.0 points and 10.8 rebounds during his senior season. He was rated as the 76th best prospect by DraftExpress and was not selected on draft night.